History Comicbook / Planetary

* AdaptationalWimp: Superman in an Elseworlds story where Planetary is the quartet of evil overlords is killed by being BlownOutTheAirlock on the dark side of the Moon.

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* EvilCounterpart: Planetary to The Four, evident in their respective derivations from the Fantastic Four. Illustrated best by an Elseworlds story where Planetary are the worlds dominating cabal, only [{{Foil}} they control the world by granting advanced technology]], not withholding it.

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* ReactionlessDrive: Planetary has access to a spaceship that generates thrust by rewriting local spacetime so that it has it. The Drummer sees it as it eating and excreting information, and is stunned.

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* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: The bracelets of the Wonder Woman expy can generate glowing copies of any weapon she can imagine.

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* TimeCrash: Worst case scenario of using the Four's time machine. It can only travel back up to the moment of its activation, meaning if you want to check out history, that's pretty much the only meaningful place to go. If any point of the future can only travel to one spit in the past, then not does normally variable future collapse into predestined events, but those events are paradoxically erased before they can happen. They use the time machine anyway and only nearly collapse spacetime.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Elijah's first big adventure was in 1919, where he hunts down a conspiracy of 19th-century geniuses/monsters;** "The Baron and his creature" aka Literature/{{Frankenstein}}.** John Griffin, Literature/TheInvisibleMan.** Literature/RoburTheConqueror.** Literature/CarnackiTheGhostFinder.** {{Dracula}}.** Others included Creator/HGWells...** ...and their leader, Franchise/SherlockHolmes. *** Notably, once defeated, Holmes admits that their conspiracy had gone '''way''' past the MoralEventHorizon; the theories they championed - eugenics, re-education, controlled economies - would go on to create the evil empires that soaked the 20th century in blood. He's such a GracefulLoser he spends his final years teaching Elijah all his methods, in the hopes his successor would correct his mistakes.

*** Literature/TheSpider is the Franchise/GreenHornet with Radio/TheShadow's "mind-clouding" abilities. He's even the son of the Dead Ranger, just as the Green Hornet was originally Franchise/TheLoneRanger's nephew. [[spoiler:One of the Four, William Leather, is in turn his son - except the Spider's wife cheated on him with a loanshark, leaving William bitter about what could have been and ripe for recruitment into Dowling's plans. For bonus points, Dowling's grandfather was the leader of the Dowling Gang, the bandits who [[DeathByOriginStory murdered the Dead Ranger's family]].]].

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*** Literature/TheSpider is the Franchise/GreenHornet with Radio/TheShadow's "mind-clouding" abilities. He's even the son of the Dead Ranger, just as the Green Hornet was originally Franchise/TheLoneRanger's nephew. [[spoiler:One of the Four, William Leather, is in turn his son - except the Spider's wife cheated on him with a loanshark, leaving William bitter about what could have been and ripe for recruitment into Dowling's plans. For bonus points, Dowling's grandfather was the leader of the Dowling Gang, the bandits who [[DeathByOriginStory murdered the Dead Ranger's family]].]]. ]]

*** The Human Torch is the youngest member, impulsive and brash, who throws around fire, and usually functions as the fire support for his family, strategy-wise. Elijah Snow is the oldest member of his team, is a thoughtful detective, *subtracts* heat from his environment to freeze things, and finds himself a natural leader with Jakita and Drums when he joins them..

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*** The Human Torch is the youngest member, impulsive and brash, who throws around fire, and usually functions as the fire support for his family, strategy-wise. Elijah Snow is the oldest member of his team, is a thoughtful detective, *subtracts* heat from his environment to freeze things, and finds himself a natural leader with Jakita and Drums when he joins them..them.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst:** Ambrose Chase, originally a member of the group, had the bad fortune to wander into a universe where HorrorTropes were laws of physics, explicitly including this one. Of course, they NeverFoundTheBody. The trope is Invoked by the villain of that issue; Chase even notes that under normal circumstances he would be unkillable.** In the final issue, [[spoiler:the above example is subverted; it reveals he activated his time field and was perfectly preserved before dying, allowing Elijah to revive him]].

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* BlackDudeDiesFirst:** BlackDudeDiesFirst: Ambrose Chase, originally a member of the group, had the bad fortune to wander into come across a universe where character who had the ability to make HorrorTropes were the laws of physics, explicitly including this one. Of course, they NeverFoundTheBody. The trope is Invoked by the villain of that issue; Chase even notes that under normal circumstances he would be unkillable.** In the final issue, [[spoiler:the above example is subverted; it reveals it's revealed he activated his time field and was perfectly is currently preserved exactly a moment before dying, his actual death, allowing Elijah to revive save him]].

* AllMythsAreTrue: A notable modern take on this concept: not only are most myths true, but a great deal of classic fiction is true as well ([[LawyerFriendlyCameo in some form or another]]), and almost everything that 21st century pop culture loves to obsess over (superheroes, space travel, [[TuxedoAndMartini suave superspies]], [[{{Kaiju}} giant radioactive monsters]], [[SupernaturalMartialArts mystical martial arts]], etc.) exists in some form. The conflict comes from the fact that most people are unaware of this, since it's all kept under lock and key by TheConspiracy.

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* AllMythsAreTrue: A notable modern take on this concept: not only are most myths true, but a great deal of classic fiction is true as well ([[LawyerFriendlyCameo in some form or another]]), and almost everything that 21st century pop culture loves to obsess over (superheroes, space travel, [[TuxedoAndMartini suave superspies]], [[{{Kaiju}} giant radioactive monsters]], [[SupernaturalMartialArts mystical martial arts]], etc.) exists in some form. The conflict comes whole series springs from the fact idea that most people are unaware of this, this is the case but nobody knows, since it's all kept under lock and key by TheConspiracy.

*** The Human Torch is the youngest member, impulsive and brash, who throws around fire, and is [[spoiler:pretty much just fire support for the others, strategy-wise]]. Elijah Snow is the oldest member of his team, is a thoughtful detective, *subtracts* heat from his environment to freeze things, and [[spoiler:is the true leader of the team]].*** The Fourth Man is also an inversion of Comicbook/DoctorDoom. The source of his problems really is his Reed Richards nemesis, but the Fourth Man isn't really obsessed with his foe -- Dowling is an obstacle to be overcome, and once removed from the picture, the Fourth Man barely acknowledges his victory before returning to his real agenda. The Fourth Man is also a ThirdPersonPerson; much as Doom refers to himself, the Fourth Man usually discusses himself as "the Fourth Man" rather than in the first person. [[spoiler: Because Elijah spends most of this time unaware that it's him.]]

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*** The Human Torch is the youngest member, impulsive and brash, who throws around fire, and is [[spoiler:pretty much just usually functions as the fire support for the others, strategy-wise]]. his family, strategy-wise. Elijah Snow is the oldest member of his team, is a thoughtful detective, *subtracts* heat from his environment to freeze things, and [[spoiler:is the true finds himself a natural leader of the team]].with Jakita and Drums when he joins them..*** The Fourth Man is also an inversion of Comicbook/DoctorDoom. The source of his problems really is his Reed Richards nemesis, but the Fourth Man isn't really obsessed with his foe -- Dowling is an obstacle to be overcome, and once removed from the picture, the Fourth Man barely acknowledges his victory before returning to his real agenda. The Fourth Man is also a ThirdPersonPerson; much as Doom refers to himself, the Fourth Man usually discusses himself as "the Fourth Man" rather than in the first person. [[spoiler: Because Elijah spends most of this time unaware that it's him.]]him!]]

* The Four: A quartet of super-powered ex-astronauts who who bore a [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent disconcerting resemblance]] to a certain [[Comicbook/FantasticFour family of superheroes]]. They oppose the Planetary trio, as part of a conspiracy to to keep the various wonders and marvels of the universe hidden from the population, in order to protect the Earth from alien forces who would destroy Earth in order to gain control over them.

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* The Four: '''The Four''': A quartet of super-powered ex-astronauts who who bore a [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent disconcerting resemblance]] to a certain [[Comicbook/FantasticFour family of superheroes]]. They oppose the Planetary trio, as part of a conspiracy to to keep the various wonders and marvels of the universe hidden from the population, in order to protect the Earth from alien forces who would destroy Earth in order to gain control over them.

* SavingTheWorld: Unlike most series, ''Planetary'' digs into what "saving the world" really means, in more ways than one. [[spoiler: It's not just "saving the world" from runaway alien technology or interdimensional monsters. It's not even just saving the world from the Four. Snow's an ''archaeologist'' - it's about preserving the past for the betterment of the future. Not just saving lives, saving information.]]

** In the final issue, it's mentioned that the Planetary's job has now become a "rescue mission". Those same words were used in the final volume of ''Comicbook/TheInvisibles'' to describe how the eponymous group's job description has changed. Both series end with the protagonists getting past a simplistic black-and-white conflict, and trying to save the whole humanity instead.

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** In the final issue, it's mentioned that the Planetary's job has now become a "rescue mission". Those same words were used in the final volume of ''Comicbook/TheInvisibles'' to describe how the eponymous group's job description has changed. Both series end with the protagonists getting past a simplistic black-and-white conflict, and trying to save the whole of humanity instead.

** The Secret Society is a group of PulpMagazine adventures. Ellis describes them lovingly, and though all but one of them are dead, many of them had an impact on the entire world - just like the pulps had an important if unrecognized impact on comics.

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** The Secret Society is a group of PulpMagazine adventures.adventurers. Ellis describes them lovingly, and though all but one of them are dead, many of them had an impact on the entire world - just like the pulps had an important if unrecognized impact on comics.

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